


Dreamcatcher

by BurntGayPotato



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trails of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: At the stonewall inn to be exact, Fluff, Fluff fluff fluffity fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Hypnos cabin (mentioned), M/M, Married Couple, Nico just wants a hug, Nightmares, and Will is that hug, bartender Nico, gay married couple, post-tartarus, tags are my burden/death/downfall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurntGayPotato/pseuds/BurntGayPotato
Summary: Nico is having horrible post-Tartarus nightmares again, and they’re worse than they usually are. Will, who lives with Nico, suggests that they put a dreamcatcher in the master bedroom.





	Dreamcatcher

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, some background, these two are married and just recently celebrated their first anniversary. Will is still getting his masters degree, and works at the nursing home in the meantime. Nico works from 2-10 pm at the Stonewall Inn. Idk they’re in NYC so I figured I’d have him be a bartender at the historical gay bar. It just made sense to me.
> 
> And in this fic we canon the ‘Niccolò’ name.
> 
> Honestly this kind of fic that’s just cuddly with sort of plot is what I became a writer for.

Nico Solace-di Angelo sat bolt upright, soaked in cold sweat. He was vaguely aware of the tears that mixed with the sweat, and pooled at the base of his chin. The small boy tried to muffle a loud sob, and was almost immediately wrapped in a pair of strong, comforting arms. Will’s arms.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked gently.

“Nightmares again?” Nico nodded, turning his face away from his husband. He hated waking Will up all the time with his nightmares. He hated that Will always felt he had to help him back to sleep like he was a toddler. 

As if sensing what the crying boy was thinking, Will cupped his cheek and turned Nico’s head to face him. With one thumb he brushed away the tears that still fell from the smaller’s eyes. 

“Hey, you know I’m here for you, right?” The blond murmured. “It’s okay to cry. Nobody should have to go through the nightmares that you do.” Nico nodded hesitantly.

“They’re getting worse.” He whispered.

“Say that again darling?” Will asked.

“The nightmares. They’re getting worse.” Nico said, a little louder this time. The taller boy held him closer and Nico buried is face in the other’s shoulder, trying to stop the tears from coming.

“Tell you what, I’ll stop by camp tomorrow and get some advice from the Hypnos kids.” Will muttered, lips brushing against Nico’s earlobe as he spoke. “I know that doesn’t fix it right now, but does that sound good?”The smaller nodded.

“Alright. Then that’s what I’ll do. Do you wanna try and get back to sleep?” 

Another nod.

Will eased himself and Nico into a horizontal position in the bed, kissing the top of his head and burying his face in his pitch black hair. Nico snuggled in, hiding his face in the crook of Will’s neck as the strong arms came again to wrap around his waist. A warm hand rubbed calming circles into the son of Hades’s back, and Nico allowed himself to melt into his husband’s embrace. He soon fell asleep to the reassuring sounds of Will’s steady breathing, his mind finally certain that he wasn’t in Tartarus again.

“Goodnight, sunshine.”

-

The next evening, around 10 o’clock when Nico was just getting back from his usual shift at The Stonewall Inn, Will emerged from the bedroom holding up a navy blue dreamcatcher. There was a loosely weaved crescent moon in the middle in the same navy blue thread, and silver feathers hung from the bottom attached by three gold beads on navy string.

The dreamcatcher was elegant, but Nico wasn’t sure how it would help. It seemed kind of last-resort.

“So,” Will grinned, gently swinging the dreamcatcher back and forth for Nico to see. “This lil’ beauty was made by the Hypnos cabin. Apparently the Ojibwa Chippewa tribe - I think that’s the tribe they said - had actually found some pretty strong dream magic by making dreamcatchers. That’s why they’re still used today. Although most today are just for show.”

“Okaaay...” Nico trailed off. “Why do we have one then?” Will laughed.

“Keyword: ‘ _most_ ’ are just for show, sunshine. This one isn’t. Hypnos kids don’t fool around when it comes to sleep. Haven’t you ever seen their cabin? Full of dreamcatchers. It was hard to wake anyone up for long enough to make one.” The blond shook his head. “Enough about that though. This dreamcatcher is a powerful one. Never gets clogged either.”

“Dreamcatchers can get clogged?” Nico’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Huh, every day’s a school day I guess.”

“Yeah I did some serious googling about these to make sure this one would work perfectly.” Will admitted, somewhat sheepishly.

And yes, it still surprised Nico a little - even now, after the two just celebrated their first anniversary - that someone could care so much about him. That they would spend their free time helping him or being with him. 

That they cared so much that they could tell just what he was feeling, and just what he needed.

“Come here.” Will said, bringing Nico into a warm hug. “I really do want the best I can get for you. I know it’s hard to believe sometimes, but it’s real. I love you, Niccolò Solace-di Angelo.” The smaller buried his face in Will’s shoulder.

“Will?” He asked, voice somewhat muffled due to the fabric of the blond’s shirt.

“Mhm?”

“Can we sleep now? There was a shit ton of queer tourists today and I’m literally exhausted.” 

“You had supper?”

“I picked something up in the way back.”

Will chuckled. “I’ll take ‘something’ as a ‘McDonalds’. And sure, just lemme hang up this dreamcatcher real quick.”

One thing Nico loves about Will, is while Nico slept in whatever clothes he was wearing (occasionally changing), Will shed his shirt and changed into sweats. And Will’s chest was always warm, making him very nice to cuddle.

So while he did that (and hung the dreamcatcher), Nico popped out his black stud earrings and let the ponytail in his hair loose. He then fell face-first onto the bed, causing Will to cackle with laughter.

“Alright, alright, I’m done with this thing. Lemme change and then we’ll sleep.”

So with that, the two boys snuggled in, dreamcatcher in place, and drifted off to sleep. The same way the day after that, and the day after that, and so on. The whole time Will and Nico held on to each other, just in case of the nightmares that never came.

And maybe a little because they really wanted to cuddle too. 


End file.
